National Grand Theater attracts international bids for debut

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, March 14, 2004

National Grand Theater attracts international bids for debut

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Four years ago when bidding for the design of Beijing's National Grand Theater opened, applications were received from 36 design companies from around the world. Now, as bidding opens for the right to stage its debut show, completion has been equally intense.

"To date, we have received 21 proposals for the theater's first show, some are from foreign countries, including the Royal Opera from England, but we haven't made the final decision yet," said Zhou Zhiqiang, head of the administrative office of the theater's art committee.

Occupying a total area of about 200,000 square meters, and due for completion by the end of the year, the National Grand Theater cost 2.688 billion yuan (about 325 million US dollars) to build, making it the country's largest cultural project in recent years.

China's Culture Minister Sun Jiazheng has said that if all goesaccording to schedule, the theater's first show should debut next September. The cultural ministry plans to stage 12 to 15 classicalChinese plays and seven to eight foreign performances as part of the initial program.

Wu Jiang, head of the China Beijing Opera Theater, envisaged a love story for the first show, which will coincide with seventh day of the seventh month in the Chinese lunar calendar, or Chineseversion of Valentine's Day. The day derives from a famous fairy tale about Niu Lang and Zhi Nu, a pair of lovers who were separated by Queen Mother of the West and could only meet once a year on this day.

"Why not arrange a splendid play depicting the eternal love between Niu Lang and Zhi Nu to attract lovers all over the world to spend China's Valentine's Day in the theater?"

Meanwhile, "Farewell my Concubine", the winner of the recently concluded "Lotus Award", China's supreme drama award, became another candidate program for the debut show.

"Having conceived the idea of building the theater about 40 years ago, we think that the National Grand Theater should be a cultural symbol of elite cultures both from home and abroad and a platform to enhance communication between China and foreign countries," said Wu Zuqiang, director on the theater's art committee.

Source: Xinhua

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